It came down to streets, police officers and firefighters Wednesday, as the Lincoln City Council spent several hours putting the final touches on the municipal budget.

Campaign promises not to increase the city’s property tax rate made for difficult decisions.

The $132 million operating budget approved by the council is only about $300,000 more than current spending.

In the end, the council ended up wrangling over a tiny fraction of the massive budget, but that tiny percentage has major consequences:

The council eliminated what little funding was left of the Lincoln-Lancaster Women’s Commission, virtually guaranteeing the end of the office and its 2.5 employees.

The council also cut in half its funding of the Affirmative Action office and folded it into the personnel office.

And it cut the fire department budget by $100,000, directing that the money come out of materials and supplies. But Interim Fire Chief Danny Wright had already planned a $150,000 cut to that line item, and has said any additional cuts would make the department’s operation “problematic” and possibly put firefighters at risk.

The council also voted to:

* Restore $185,000 to the aging department to continue the Lifetime Health program and keep two senior centers open, at least for a year.

* Make a variety of budget cuts that diverted an extra $500,000 to the police department.

* Steer an extra $494,000 toward street construction and maintenance.

* Reverse an earlier preliminary vote and decided not to hire a part-time researcher for the City Council office.

* Remove plans for a third sewage plant in southwest Lincoln from the capital improvement program.

Fireworks

As usual, the fire department budget provided fodder for controversy.

In July, Councilman Jon Camp proposed cutting its budget by $175,000. Wednesday, he reduced that to $100,000. The four Republicans on the council went along with that, over the objections of the three Democrats.

Camp noted the fire department budget would still be higher than its current budget. He said he wouldn’t be bothered if the cuts result in firetrucks operating with three firefighters, rather than the department’s preferred four.

“We have become a fire department that really is more of an ambulance department that happens to fight a fire every once in a while,” Camp said.

Councilman Ken Svoboda said the department could dip into the city’s contingency fund if necessary.

Republicans rebuffed a last-minute attempt by Councilman Jonathan Cook to restore the money by using several revenue sources that materialized since the mayor prepared his budget — such as money from a new StarTran advertising contract.

Instead, Republicans moved the unallocated money into the city’s contingency fund.

Cook said later he was shocked they refused to restore money to the fire department after doing so for the aging and police departments.

“What does that say?” Cook said. “I don’t believe many councils nationwide would refuse to appropriate that money to its fire department.”

Senior citizens

Even though the council restored $185,000 to the aging department, the agency still ended up taking a big budget hit.

Councilman John Spatz said the city will look for community or faith-based groups to continue the Lifetime Health program.

June Pederson, director of the aging department, said the money should be enough to keep the Belmont and Maxey centers open at least two days a week.

Pederson was on vacation when senior citizens launched a public fight to save their programs.

“I’m very proud of what those seniors did,” she said.

Affirmative Action

Democrats were unable to dissuade Republicans from cutting the Affirmative Action office in half and folding it into the personnel office.

Cook argued the independent office is crucial to avoiding costly lawsuits.

But Eschliman said the office only gets one complaint a month and conducts one or two training sessions per month. And she said Omaha’s affirmative action office is a part of its personnel department.

“I think it’s actually a victim of its own success,” Eschliman said. “It’s not the kind of problem it was 20 to 30 years ago.”

Street money moved to police

Republicans on the council were dogged about diverting more money toward street construction and maintenance, and had succeeded in moving about $800,000 toward that end until the end of the meeting.

But in a last-minute move, Cook convinced two Republicans to instead move a portion of that — the general revenue — to the police department. After the meeting, Budget Officer Steve Hubka said it amounted to nearly $328,000.

Cook said it made little sense to put general revenue into the street construction budget, where it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the $53 million in of street work planned.

The money would be better spent in another department, he said.

“That’s real money for other departments for basic city services that people count on,” he said. “This is real money to the police department.”

He garnered the support of Spatz and Svoboda, who long wanted to come up with matching funds enabling the city to get a federal COPS grant. Camp fought the move, saying the federal money to hire additional officers doesn’t just come with strings attached, but “a hangman’s noose around our neck.”

The council didn’t dictate the money be used to get the federal grant; it may be used to fill several vacant positions.

“Rather than (building) two blocks of street, we’ll put cops on the street,” Marvin said.

Camp and Eschliman voted against moving the money.

Camp said investing in streets helps rev up the city’s economic engine, which will ultimately create more tax revenue to meet city needs in coming years.

“It’s easy to take shots at roads; roads are kind of faceless. But behind those roads are jobs,” Camp argued.

What did the mayor think?

Mayor Chris Beutler said he was disappointed in the council’s decisions to cut the Affirmative Action office in half, eliminate the Women’s Commission and reduce funding to the fire department, but said everybody had to give and take something.

He and the council traded compliments for working together more than in past years.

“Thank you,” he told the council. “It was great.”

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.